Growing Up Smeagol
by Sterling Hologram
Summary: The youth of Smeagol, his trials, his joys, his heartaches, everything that led up to his becoming a servant of the Ring that Tolkien didn't choose to reveal.
1. Chapter 1

Smeagol was new to the village. His father had a wanderlust and couldn't settle in anywhere for very long so the family was continually moving.

Smeagol was playing a game he had invented. He had made a club of wood which he used to hit walnut shells on the ground with. It was one of the things he could do since he didn't have any friends. He enjoyed thwacking the devil out of the walnuts and had actually gotten quite good at it.

There were some boys in the village who Smeagol had met although he didn't like them very much.

One chap was named Dukash. He had a fairly high opinion of himself and some girls thought he was sort of cute. He didn't think much of Smeagol either and thought he was funny looking and odd acting.

One day Smeagol was outside thwacking his walnuts quite contentedly when Dukash came over on his worn out pony with his friend Laggo riding behind. Largo was a muscular, aggressive boy who hated sissies and "weirdos" and liked to pick on them especially. Dukash and Laggo had already made fun of Smeagol behind his back and wanted to see if they could torment him a little.

"Hey Sheegull!" Ducas yelled at Smeagol as he spurred the tired old pony into the yard. Smeagol looked up apprehensively.

"Oh hello, Dukash."

"Looks like you're a real expert at that," said Dukash as he yanked his pony to a halt. The poor animal slavered and struggled at the rope in its mouth. Laggo had kind of a perpetual sneer on his face.

"Well I like to hit them around," Smeagol admitted shyly.

"Let's see ya sock one!" Laggo yelled.

Smeagol obliged. He was a bit nervous and didn't hit the walnut very well. It went a few yards and stopped.

The boys laughed. "Great shot!" said Dukash. Smeagol felt ashamed.

Laggo jumped off the pony. "Lemme hit one." He took the club from Smeagol and started swinging at the line of walnuts Smaegol had set up. It was really much harder to get a good shot than it looked and Laggo mostly botched it, although he did succeed in knocking the walnuts helter skelter all over the yard.

"You're not so great yourself!" yelled Dukash.

"This is stupid," said Laggo and threw the club into the middle of the yard. He and Dukash laughed again. Smeagol felt very small and powerless.

Laggo jumped back on the pony. "Let's go!" he shouted to Dukash. Dukash dug his heels into the pony and rode into the yard, around and around as Laggo bent down to pick up walnuts. Then as they raced past Smeagol, he threw them at him.

"Here's your nuts, old man!" Smeagol winced as the walnuts struck him. Dukash made one more pass across the yard and Laggo grabbed the club. He bent it as hard as he could with his strong arms and it snapped in two and then he threw it at Smeagol who just barely dodged it.

"Oops, sorry!" said Laggo, laughing. The boys raced out of Smeagol's yard in a cloud of dust.

"See ya later!" yelled Dukash.

"Yeah, take it easy, Sheegull!" yelled Laggo.

Smeagol was very glad when they disappeared down the path. He picked up the pieces of his club and tried to fit them back together. He felt a painful tightening of his heart and wanted to cry but he didn't. He dropped the club went into his house. His mother was stirring a large pot of steaming meal.

"Where have you been? I need more firewood. Go get some."

Smeagol walked outside again. He picked up the pieces of his club and then walked into the woods, bending down and adding sticks as he went. He daydreamed as he went along of riding a fast horse in a race. He beat every one and a pretty young girl gave him a kiss.

"Smeagol, where's my wood?" his mother yelled from the house.

"I'm coming," he answered as he walked back with his load of wood, kicking walnut shells as he went.


	2. Chapter 2

Smeagol had a hard time making friends because he was so shy. So he amused himself as best he could when he wasn't doing chores. He was fascinated by the ant colonies in the dirt of his yard. Luckily they weren't poisonous ants and he would play games with them.

Sometimes he would block their trails and see how they got around the walls he made. Sometimes he would fill their nests with water and watch them scatter in panic, madly carrying their eggs to safety. And sometimes he would imagine that they were armies and he would engage them in battle.

His method was to kill or maim them at random as if they were soldiers who had been shot. After a good long battle he liked to survey the field of casualties that lay scattered around. There was something grand about it. Many were the dead and the walking wounded that stumbled around on damaged legs and bodies. Sometimes he would burn them with a smoldering stick and watch them suffer and die. And sometimes he would just crush them willy nilly under his shoe as if a great act of God had come down upon them.

He never had any guilt or regret about what he did to the ants. They were just little living toys to him, something fun to play with and then forget about. He didn't think of them as having any value or importance. When he was done he would simply move on to the next thing, whatever that was.


	3. Chapter 3

One day Smeagol found a puppy alongside the road. He figured no one wanted it so he took it.

It was a very cute little animal. Smeagol love to watch it dash around and do puppy things and bark its little bark.

He found an old comb and combed its hair and fed it from scraps he saved from dinner. His mother felt that Smeagol needed a friend so she allowed him to have it. She even let them sleep in the same bed.

Soon Smeagol and the puppy went everywhere together. People of the village would look at them and smile. "There goes that new boy with his little friend," they thought. Sometimes other children would tag along and play with the puppy too. Smeagol let them but was very protective and a bit jealous sometimes when the puppy played with other kids but he didn't stop them.

One day Smeagol was outside playing with his puppy. They were running around and having fun as usual. Suddenly the puppy began to act strange. It fell down and what looked like foamy soap came out of its mouth. Smeagol screamed and ran into the house.

"Mother, Mother!" he cried, "There's something wrong with my puppy!"

She ran outside to look. The little dog was writhing on the ground with the foam coming out of its mouth. She shook her head because she had seen this before. Puppies who had this disease always died. She sent Smeagol away and told him not to come back for a while.

When Smeagol came home he asked what happened to the puppy.

"He's gone to heaven," she said. "He'll be better off there."

Smeagol cried and cried to have lost his only friend. He thought, "I hope I will go to heaven someday soon and be with my puppy."


	4. Chapter 4

One day Smeagol was walking down by a lake and he saw some boys rowing around in rowboats and canoes. He stood and watched for a while wishing he could have some fun like that. Then the boys saw him and one boat came over to the shore.

"Would you like to get in the boat with us?" one of the boys asked.

"Yes!" cried Smeagol.

He got in the boat and they rowed out onto the lake. There were four boats altogether, two canoes and two rowboats. The boys did a lot of splashing around and racing the boats plus there was some swimming involved alongside and between the boats.

Sometimes Smeagol got to row or paddle the boats and sometimes he just jumped in and swam around with the other boys. He felt like he had not had so much fun in a long time.

At the end of the day the boys all went home and Smeagol was tired and happy. He walked home in his damp clothes and when his mother saw him she laughed.

"Where have you been all day?" she asked.

He told her about the boys and the boats and she smiled as he went on and on about all that they did. She was glad that he had finally found some friends.

He gobbled his supper down ravenously and then fell into bed and went into a happy slumber immediately, dreaming of his new friends and the boats..


	5. Chapter 5

Smeagol's father wasn't around much. He was gone most of the time working for the dwarves in the mines. When he did come home he mostly took long baths and drank too much. Sometimes there would be fights between his father and mother in the middle of the night. This terrified Smeagol and he would shiver in fear underneath his covers as they screamed at each other. Sometimes his father would even hit his mother and had been seen cavorting with other women down at the roadhouse and all this left a dark shadow over the house.

One day Smeagol was helping his mother down at the market. They had just gotten their baskets filled with food and were ready to come home when who did they see but Smeagol's father, riding home. He was completely drunk and was barely able to sit on his horse. He had a bottle in his hand and would take drinks from it as he loudly sang a song to himself.

People in the market square were looking at him and laughing. He didn't take kindly to this and started cursing at them in the most foul language. At one point he got so angry that he lost his balance and fell off the horse right into the muddy road. As his horse continued on he just lay there, searching for his bottle.

Smeagol was incredibly ashamed. His mother put down her basket and ran ahead to catch the horse. Smeagol wished he could somehow be invisible but people were looking at him too.

His father couldn't reach his bottle and looking around for it, spied Smeagol.

"Oh hello, my dear boy," he said is a woozy tone of voice. "How about getting your poor old dad's bottle over there." He pointed at it.

Smeagol picked up all the baskets and walked as fast as he could towards his mother and the horse.

"Where are you going, you little brat? I said come here and get my lousy bottle!"

Smeagol pretended not to hear and kept going.

"When I get home I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life! I'll teach you to run away from your dad!"

He rolled over in the mud, spreading it to cover all of his clothing.

"Why does this always happen to me?" he began to sob.


End file.
